One or more embodiments of the subject matter described herein relate generally to connectors that electrically couple two or more other connectors or devices, and more specifically, to an interposer connector assembly.
The ongoing trend toward smaller, lighter, and higher performance electrical components and higher density electrical circuits has led to the development of surface mount technology in the design of printed circuit boards and electronic packages. Surface mountable packaging allows for the connection of a package, such as a computer processor, to pads on the surface of the circuit board rather than by contacts or pins soldered in plated holes going through the circuit board. Surface mount technology may allow for an increased component density on a circuit board, thereby saving space on the circuit board.
One form of surface mount technology includes interposer connectors. Interposer connectors may include a dielectric substrate with conductive contacts on both sides of the substrate. Conductive vias, or holes that are lined with a conductive material, extend through the substrate to electrically couple the contacts on opposite sides of the substrate. The contacts on each side of the substrate engage conductive members or terminals of different electronic packages, such as a processor and a circuit board, to electrically couple the electronic packages with each other.
The increasing demand for higher density electrical connections between the interposer connectors and the electronic packages to which the connectors mate has resulted in the contacts, conductive pads, and vias of the interposer connectors being placed relatively close together. Additionally, the differential electrical impedance characteristics of the conductive pathways that extend through the interposer connectors between the contacts are relatively low. As a result, the rate at which the interposer connectors communicate data may be limited. For example, the low differential impedance of the conductive pathways may result in significant noise and interference being induced by one conductive pathway on nearby conductive pathways.
A need exists for an interposer connector that reduces the noise and/or interference between conductive pathways in the connector while permitting relatively high data rates to be communicated through the connector.